Yukos' main shareholders are ready to negotiate on ceding control of the oil company to the state if jailed founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is freed, key Yukos shareholder Leonid Nevzlin said Monday. Nevzlin said his offer comes amid mounting Kremlin pressure aimed at forcing the core group of shareholders out of Yukos. "The Kremlin does not want to see the shareholders of Menatep as owners of a controlling stake in Yukos. This is what I hear via intermediaries almost every day. Such proposals are made, as are threats of a personal nature," Nevzlin said by telephone from Israel, where he lives in self-imposed exile. He would not elaborate on what the threats were. He also refused to identify the intermediaries, but said he was waiting for the Kremlin to appoint an official mediator. "I have opened the door for negotiations," he said. Nevzlin, as well as other core Yukos shareholders, who have all been charged with fraud or tax evasion or both, hold a 44 percent stake in Yukos via the Group Menatep holding company. The stake is currently worth $14.6 billion. Nevzlin, however, qualified his proposal, saying it was only a starting point for negotiations. He said talks on ways to hand over the stake could only take place if Khodorkovsky was freed on bail or under house arrest. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Xodorkovsky goes against Putin, Xodorkovsky goes to jail. This is one of the last of the big Oligarchs from the Early 90s. He'll get out, lose his assets, and move to Israel, or London and have tea with Berezovsky. To charge someone with tax evasion in Russia is somewhat absurd. You might have heard about the flat tax there... but the reality is that the tax load, not including money that must be paid to the FSB for protection, is something like 50%. Tarifs on EVERYTHING. The tax code is so complicated... no one can pay up how much is owed, because its not certain how much is owed. This is more of Putin the President becoming Putin the dictator. The Russian people escaping from "freedom" into bondage. Gangster capitalism has been traumatic. Where will Putin lead them once he has his iron grip? Nevzlin Offers Shares for Freedom | 
